Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV Tire Debuts for Sport Bike Riders

With a lineup of popular choices for sport bike enthusiasts, Pirelli is now bringing out the next generation of its street-focused tires, debuting the Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV.

As the name implies, the tire is the successor to the venerable Diablo Rosso III, which is billed as a performance street tire for sport bike riders, suitable for mixed weather conditions and higher mileage uses.

The Rosso III sat below the Diablo Rosso Corsa II tire (one of our favorite street tires) in terms of performance, with the DRC2 being a street tire that also performs well on the race track.

Above the DRC2 sits the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP progeny, which are DOT-race tires that meet the basic requirements to be street legal.

Now that we have the Pirelli sport bike tire family tree out of the way, that gets us to where the Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV slots into the group.

This is obviously ahead of the Rosso III, but also curiously enough, the Rosso IV is said to outperform the Diablo Rosso Corsa II in some conditions, including on the track.

In light of how highly we rate the DRC2, consider our interests piqued by that statement.

As you can see from the spider chart above, Pirelli claims a number of performance improvements in the Rosso IV over the Rosso III, while maintaining the same mileage expectations.

In terms of material differences, the Diablo Rosso IV is a full-silica dual-compound tire for 160 & 180 tire widths, and a three-compound tire for 190-width tires and above, where the third compound (used for the edge) is very similar to the SC3 race slick compound.

The carcass is also different on the Diablo Rosso IV, with Pirelli using fewer cords in the construction of the tire, but the 0-ply cords that are used are stiffer in design.

Overall, the construction is stiffer than what’s available on the Diablo Rosso III, which should help the Rosso IV handle the higher horsepower and torque figures found on the current crop of sport bikes, and provide more precise feedback to the rider.

Available only for 17″ wheels, the front size is the popular 120/70, while the available rear sizes are 160/60, 180/55, 190/50, 190/55, 200/55, and 200/60.